New Hope announced that 14% of its corporate staff have been made redundant while 15% of the workforce at its port facility, Queensland Bulk Handling (QBH), would also be made redundant, while workers at the New Acland mine site awaited a decision on the next round of redundancies.
New Hope noted that the remaining workers at its corporate office would move to a nine-day fortnight and would take a 10% reduction in pay, starting from July 1, while the logistics team members at QBH would take a near 30% decrease in salary.
CEO Shane Stephan said the cuts would affect more than 150 employees.
“While this is regrettable, the reduction in hours and pay for our workforce means we can keep the number of redundancies to a minimum at this point,” Stephan said. “However, continued uncertainty and delays around the approvals of Stage 3 will see production at New Acland continue to reduce and further redundancies will result across all areas of the business.”
In 2019, New Hope lost 150 staff members at the New Acland mine as the Stage 3 approvals lagged behind. Reserves at the current New Acland mine have been depleted, while the Stage 3 expansion would increase annual production from 4.8 million metric tons (mt) to 7.5 million mt and would extend the project’s mine life by about 12 years.
